Winnings Ways

Last updated: 9th August 2010

HUNTER MAHAN - WGC BRIDGESTONE INVITATIONAL WINNER

In the bag

Driver - Ping Rapture V2
Fairway-wood - Ping i15
Hybrid - Ping i15
Irons - Ping S56
Wedges - Callaway X-forged
Putter - Ping IWI D66
Ball - Titleist ProV1x

Turning point

Nervous as he played the long par-five sixteenth hole, Mahan shoved his approach into a flower bed.

Told by a TV guy where his ball had finished, Mahan admitted his first thought was: "Where the heck is a flower bed up there? I had no idea where it might be! I went to see it and thought, 'Where are we going to drop this?' But it was ok."

Many watching felt sure a penalty shot was inevitable but he gained a free drop and remained calm enough to secure a par that maintained his lead and gave him the chance to play the final two holes with a lead - enough for him to claim the victory.

He was a little fortunate to get that break, but he also took advantage.

Stats

After his second round, Mahan, usually an assured ball-striker, needed to turn that part of his game around: he had found just 50% (ranked 68th) of the greens in regulation in round one and only improved that to 61.1% (ranked 32nd) in round two. The weekend, however, was a different matter as he found 83.3% of the greens in both rounds, something no-one else could match.

His putting underwent a similar transformation. Having taken 1.78 and 1.82 putts per greens in regulation on Thursday and Friday, he dropped that stat to 1.60 and 1.57 at the weekend, enough for him to finish the week ranked first in that category.

Insight

Mahan ended 2009 with two strong reputations: one good and one bad.

The former was as one of the finest ball-strikers on the PGA Tour, the latter was an inability to win as often as he should.

He met a girl in December - Kandi Harris - and they immediately hit it off. When he won the Phoenix Open early in the 2010 season he credited the win with his new found confidence alongside the love of his life.

But after going on to finish eighth in the Masters his season ground to a halt, he even missed four cuts in a row prior to the Open Championship.

"What happened?" he said when asked about his form. "I just didn't play very good. It was kind of ugly there. Swing got a little out of whack."

He also admitted the off-the-course change to his life affected him too.

"There was a lot going on in a good way, with getting engaged and kind of having a serious, serious girlfriend and everything. It was all good, it was all positive, it was all fun. We were having a great time, but it was energy going another place.

"Like I said, I've only worried about golf for the past 27 years of my life, and to think about somebody else and their feelings was just different. It was an adjustment period.

"She's only been for the better, but it's been a weird year. We got engaged at Pebble Beach, things are on the up and improving on the course since then."

In his words

Mahan is in no doubt that this was his finest win yet.

"Obviously to win any time on the PGA TOUR is great, but an event like this, 80 of the best players in the world, it's something special. This is a great, great tournament. Bridgestone does an incredible job. This course is immaculate. Every time we come here it's just like a major.

"The course is perfect: tough rough, fast greens. All the players all over the world come here to play, and it's definitely the best win of my career for sure. And it's probably the coolest trophy we get, too. That thing is pretty cool.

"To do it when you have to, when you're kind of behind and you need to do something special and to do it when you need it, to make putts like I needed to, it feels great.

"But I'll look back on it maybe tomorrow and really realize what kind of what happened and what I did, and it'll sink in a little bit more."

BILL LUNDE - TURNING STONE CHAMPIONSHIP WINNER

In the bag

Driver - Ping Rapture V2
Irons - Ping S57
Putter - Ping Karsten Craze
Ball - Titleist ProV1x

Turning point

Despite arriving at the tournament feeling in good form ("scores hadn't really showed it, but I felt good coming into the week"), Lunde couldn't believe how he started.

"It was kind of weird," he said. "Like the first five or six holes I kept driving it in the rough and I had a couple three-putts early. I was like, 'Oh, God, here we go again.'"

"But I was able to kind of turn it around late on Friday. I birdied three of my last four holes to finish at 3-under kind of to make the cut.

"I had played well, though, Friday. So took some momentum going into the weekend, and came out yesterday and kind of lit it off and really felt good about my game.

"It's one of those things, once the putts start going in, your confidence just increases with every putt you see go in. And that's kind of what happened."

Stats

Backing up the story of Lunde's turning point, the stats show how his scoring changed around after the cut. He endured an appalling start to his week on the greens, being ranked 127th in the field for Putt Average after 18 holes as he needed 2.06 putts per green hit in regulation. But for the final 54 holes, he turned that around, bringing the figures down to 1.64, 1.60 and 1.69 in the second, third and fourth rounds respectively.

Allied to his ranking of third for Greens in Regulation throughout the week it was a solid enough package to win.

Insight

In 2006, after years of struggle, Lunde gave up the game and took a desk job, but when he was made redundant (because of the downturn in the housing economy) he returned to the game partly because he had nothing else, but also determined to enjoy it this time, to appreciate what it offered rather than be tortured by it.

He became a winner on the Nationwide Tour and he used that experience to help him win on the PGA. Most players experience some form of panic on the final day, a few, or maybe even one, remain calm for some reason. Last week it was Lunde.

"

Usually I'm griping and complaining about something," he admitted. "But today I just got off to a good start, and I was just trying not to think about too much of what was going on and kind of keep plugging away."

"I hit a lot of great shots, so there wasn't a lot to complain about. The one bogey I made, it didn't really bother me too much, and just kind of kept pushing along because I was right in the mix of the golf tournament at that point. So if I was going to get mad, then that wasn't going to help me try to win my first tournament.

"So past experiences helped - when I've had leads or chances to win on the Nationwide Tour and kind of had some bad holes and got mad and kind of lost the tournament and played a bad final round. I've kind of learned. When I won on the Nationwide in '08, I remember making double on my second hole, and just really didn't let it bother me."

In his words

Lunde talked about two people who had helped his progress in the game - his grandfather who first took him to the golf course and his friend and fellow PGA Tour winner Charley Hoffman.

"Charley grew up two houses down from me. Since I have memory Charley's been there.

"We always did everything together growing up and kind of still do. When I started playing golf, my grandfather kind of introduced it to him as well and we just played junior golf growing up in San Diego and on to college at UNLV and both fortunate enough to get out to this point.

"It's been kind of an amazing thing. I just wish my grandfather had been here to see Charley win and see me win would have been something special for him."

AROUND THE WORLD:

LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR
Sophie Gustafson - AIB Irish Open champion

"I love Ireland," said Gustafson after her win, somewhat stating the obvious after she completed a sixth win in the country (five individual titles and one World Cup). "I think maybe it's the people. They are all very friendly and easy going and have always been very supportive of me." A winner earlier this year at the European Nations Cup alongside Anna Nordqvist, she was even then struggling with the putter, something that has continued all year. She worked incredibly hard on the practice green last week at the British Open and finally reaped the reward, holing a ten foot birdie putt on the final green to clinch victory.

ASIAN TOUR
Angelo Que - Worldwide Holdings Selangor Masters champions

The 31-year-old Philippine player took a one-shot lead into the final round, but after 15 holes trailed Englishman Chris Rodgers by one. A 20 foot birdie putt on the 16th green drew him level. Rodgers dropped a shot but Que could not take advantage, dropping one of this own on the final green. In the play-off Rodgers' nerves again betrayed him when a three-putt led to another bogey. It was Que's third triumph on the Asian Tour.

NATIONWIDE TOUR
Jhonttan Vegas - Preferred Health Systems Wichita Open champion

Twelve months ago the Venezuelan Vegas let slip a final day lead in this event so this year represented pay back time. He began the final round six strokes behind the joint leaders but a 7-under-par 64 bounced him to 20-under-par for the event, a score no-one could match. Now seventh in the money list he is virtually assured of a main tour card for 2011.

CHAMPIONS TOUR
David Frost - 3M Championship winner

In hot and humid conditions that had Mark Calcavecchia dripping in sweat, the South African blitzed the golf course with a final round of 61 that briefly promised to be yet another 59. "The rest of us were playing for second," admitted Nick Price as Frost compiled his 11-under-par final round that gave him a 25-under-par total for the week, seven shots clear of Calcavecchia.